


Hunting Seasons

by Marien



Category: Tir Alainn Trilogy - Anne Bishop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 07:09:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12699903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marien/pseuds/Marien
Summary: Tir Alainn  Trilogy fic about Ashk,  for Xylaria's Yuletide requests. Happy Holidays!





	1. Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xylaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xylaria/gifts).



Night of the Summer Moon, the sky velvety black as her fur, the moon's light the only break in the darkness. She tasted the night's scents, as she ran, greenery and fresh water and prey...  
what? What was that?

She paused. _Man._ Fae, or human? She couldn't quite tell, the scent was an odd mix. _Like your own._  
Curiosity won out over a hunter's caution. She shifted into the woman's shape. Easier to deal with him peaceably that way. A breeze cooled her skin. She'd worn only a light tunic, not needing more in the summer's heat and wanting to lessen a shadow hound's instinctive dislike of feeling confined. Warm soil and grass slid under her bare toes as she approached. 

He was sitting by a small stream where she sometimes liked to bathe, his back to her. Even in this form, she could smell and feel the frustration radiating off him. Not just a man's hunger to touch and be touched, something deeper...

"Blessings of the night," she greeted him softly.

Regretted it a moment later, when he jumped, then rounded on her. "Who--" he broke off, averted his gaze.  
His reaction baffled as well as irritated her. She'd seen interest in his eyes, but now...Had he recognized her, was that it?  
But no. He didn't have the Fae's looks, she realized. Wiccanfae? Or half-blooded, anyway, not from the Clans in this part of the world. Humans had odd ideas about women's roles and dress, she recalled now. She considered briefly returning to the hound or simply leaving, but he spoke before she could turn away from him. 

"Lady--" he faltered. "I mean no offense. I'd thought no one else would be out wandering tonight except perhaps the Fae Lords." 

"Oh? Would you settle for a Fae Lady? " 

He looked up at that. She moved closer, tucking a strand of hair behind one of her pointed ears. 

He was handsome, lean, dark-haired and strong, not soft like a good number of the young men from her home Clan. His smile, shy but real, lit his eyes.  
"I. I'm Padrick." He bowed slightly, held out a hand.

"Ashk." She took his hand, brought it to her lips, kissing the palm gently. "And no offense taken, Padrick. Far from it. " She let him see the invitation in her gaze, didn't draw away when he captured both her hands and tugged her to him. 

He touched her, gently at first, then less so, when she snarled in mingled impatience and hunger of her own. Laid her down, his shirt(and the rest of his clothes), serving as a makeshift pallet for them. Kisses and caresses, slow, then fever-hot, as he sheathed himself in her, her hands gripping his thighs, skin to heated skin...  
He lay next to her, after, gasping a little, eyes wide.  
"Had you never...?" Surprised, she searched his face. He gave a brief shake of his head.  
She smiled, leaned in for a slow, sweet kiss. "I couldn't tell," she whispered, stroking a hand down his back. "That was ...wonderful." She had no gift for flattery, but hoped he could tell she was sincere if not poetic. 

"Shall we go somewhere else?" she suggested. "We're likely not to be alone much longer. Other Fae _are_ out and about, just not close yet." 

He made a strange face. "Aye, I'd not rather put on a show," he agreed.  
He led her to a little cottage she knew was used by the local human Baron's foresters. It was deserted, but clean and warm inside...And the door had a stout lock, which both of them appreciated.  
Neither of them moved apart for the rest of that night. 

When dawn finally began to lighten the sky, they were both exhausted but happily so. Padrick stroked her hair. "I. Don't go yet?" he asked, fighting a yawn. 

Ashk tilted her head. "It won't cause trouble for you if your Baron finds us here?" 

"Ah, no," he grimaced. "...he'd probably be glad of it. He's been after me to prove I'm a man for some time now... The Baron is my father." 

_Oh._ That made things simpler, but... "What did he think you were? A goat?" She looked him up and down. "I believe I would have noticed."

That made him laugh. He hugged her. "You're a treasure."  
They snuggled in together, dozing off. 

Waking up past midday, Padrick didn't want to disturb Ashk, who still slept. He drew the blanket up over her shoulders. She stirred, eyes slightly opening. 

"I have to be on my way," he told her a little regretfully. 

She nodded sleepily. "Pleasure isn't a promise." It sounded as if she were quoting something.  
Padrick hesitated, still, not wanting to go.  
A feather dropped out of his bundled clothes as he reached for them. He bent and picked it up, puzzled. A hawk's feather. Where had that come from?  
He set it on a nearby table. He dressed, moving as quietly as he could, and then let himself out of the cottage. He waited until he heard the lock catch. She'd be safe until she'd rested and was ready to go home herself.  
Across the meadow in front of the cottage, a great stag watched him with a golden-eyed stare.  
Padrick carefully bowed, offering courtesy, and took his leave. 

He couldn't stop himself from glancing back, if only once. 

A short time later, the shadow hound and stag took the trail homeward.

A month passed quickly. She trained with Kernos, helped him care for some of the younger Fae who needed to learn woodcraft or archery. One young Lady of the Moon, a girl newly come to her gift, sought Ashk's help dealing with the shadow hound pups that would be her pack. Gwynith was intelligent, but too kind, she needed encouragement to stand her ground. A predator like a hound wasn't impressed by gentleness. 

She hunted, or walked the woods, sometimes visited the nearby village disguised as a young human male. Of course she didn't keep an eye out for the young Baron-to-be; or if she did, she would have bitten her own tongue off before admitting it. 

Walking through the market one day, Ashk heard that the human Baron of Bretonwood had gone to the Summerland. She felt a sympathetic pang for Padrick. What would it be like if Kernos had gone from her? 

Perhaps she _would_ go visit him. A leader's position was never easy to take up, especially the first weeks and months...he might appreciate some company that wouldn't make any demands on him. She'd thought of him more than once since that first meeting. She'd had other matings, but something about him still drew her attention.

"The last Baron was old even when his son was born," Kernos told her when she returned home. "Only a year or three younger than myself. Padrick had to grow up quickly. I doubt his passing was unexpected." 

"Hm. " He hadn't seemed immature to her, just the opposite. "There's Fae blood in their line, isn't there?"

"A few generations back, " her grandfather replied. "You sensed it in him?" 

"Yes, but unkindled--" Ashk was interrupted by a sudden wave of nausea. She hurried to the privy barely in time to avoid vomiting all over the floor.  
Kernos' warm, scarred hands caught her shoulders, supporting her until it passed. 

"Perhaps not for long." There was a mischievous, knowing gleam in his eyes.  
She rested a hand on her abdomen. "Ohh..." as realization dawned.

"He's been watching for you, too," Kernos said. "Your night together? He didn't actually leave until he knew you'd be safe. He has a good heart." 

"Then you wouldn't object? If he and I..."

"No, sweetheart. You both will be good for each other. Even the Hunter isn't always alone; where do you think _your_ mother came from?" he teased kindly. 

Ashk just rolled her eyes, and went in search of Padrick.


	2. Autumn

Ashk's introduction to Padrick's household...Well, it wasn't the first time nor would be the last, she'd wager, that someone had tried to glare her into silence or talk about her as if she weren't there.  
It was, however, both the first and last time the housekeeper would do so. Ashk knew a Fae Lady of the Woods had to be nearly as strange to the woman, as a gentry house was to said Fae. So she didn't repay the woman's icy manner or the mutter of 'slut' under her breath as she would have done with another Fae. She didn't think bloodstains on the floor or in Padrick's evening meal would help soothe his people's suspicions.  


_He_ had been happy to see her, ushering her inside and treating her as a welcomed guest. They'd talked, and he'd insisted that she warm herself at the hearth and eat a meal with him.  
Padrick had caught them all by surprise by having sharper hearing--and less patience--than his staff, or Ashk, had expected. He'd gotten up from the table, his expression very cold, and led the housekeeper to the far side of the room. He whispered something Ashk couldn't hear.  


The older woman had gone very pale, and remained wisely silent and deferential after that. 

Not long afterward, they'd retired to his rooms, ignoring the faint disapproval in the servants' eyes. He'd been as eager for their lovemaking as before, yet cared for her pleasure as well as his own. They'd both enjoyed the closeness as well. She curled up beside him, some hours later, regarding him thoughtfully. She'd had lovers before,but this...felt different. 

"There's something else we need to speak of, darlin'," she said quietly, reaching for his hand. 

He gave her a questioning look. She met his eyes, and said, "Padrick, are you...Do you have a gentry lady waiting for you? Or promised to you?" 

"No," he said at once. Anger flickered across his expression. "You don't think much of me, do you? Of my honor. I wouldn't have been out that night if I were betrothed." 

A little startled by the edge to his voice, she sat up. "No! That's not what I meant at all. But now that you rule here, do your people expect you to continue your line? It's only your child that can inherit Bretonwood, I'd thought."

"My son," he corrected, and then sighed. "I apologize. I shouldn't have snarled at you like that, it was a fair question. I just... " 

Ashk laughed, shaking her head. " You think that was a snarl, boyo?" She rose from the bed, acting on an impulse, and changed shape.  
Her bared-teeth growl echoed through the house. His eyes widened, but he didn't flinch away when she padded closer. She brushed her head against his leg.  
He reached down tentatively, after a moment, stroking her fur. 

"I keep having odd dreams. I haven't been able to sleep much," he confessed. "Dreams of the woods, and...feeling--like I'm lost. Or looking for--for something, I don't know what but I can't find it. Everything feels cold and... empty, when I wake up. " 

Ashk rumbled softly, mulling that over. She pressed against him, offering wordless comfort. He looked tired, she realized, but his scent didn't carry any hint of illness...  
Then she growled at herself, disgusted, as understanding dawned. She turned back to woman's shape so she could speak to him. 

"Padrick, I'm sorry. I should've known...darlin', I think me and mine are what's behind these dreams of yours." 

"What? Why?"

She smiled. "Let's put it this way; you weren't the first of your family to go walking out with a Fae of a summer's night,were you?"

"...My uncle used to talk about the Fae and the Small Folk as if he knew them," Padrick replied slowly. "I thought he just enjoyed storytelling. I used to love listening to him when I was small."

"Can't speak to that, but Padrick, you do have Fae blood in your veins. I can sense it in you.  
So dreams about the woods...may mean you also have the gift of changing to a woodland form, as I do."

 _Now_ his eyes were as round as dinner plates. "Truly?" He sounded awed--and hopeful. 

"May I touch you?" she asked formally, holding out both hands, palms up.  
He nodded. 

She rested one hand on his chest, the other on his shoulder, and fell silent, letting herself feel the power half-asleep inside him. It stirred at her touch. She caught a faint sense of chilly, green-scented wind, and a flash of outspread wings and talons. 

"Breathe with me, Padrick. Listen. Don't try to think of anything in particular, just clear your mind as best you can. What you feel isn't some fevered dream. Don't be afraid to reach for it," she instructed him calmly. 

He obeyed, shutting his eyes. Breathed in, out, in...

His body rippled, glowed with magic--and a second later, a red-tailed hawk sat on the bed where a man had rested a second ago.  
Padrick opened his eyes, let out a startled noise--and Ashk caught him before he fell off the bed. 

He reverted back to human a moment later. They looked at each other, and the worry on his face was replaced by a sense of relief and wonder. 

"I think we'll need more practice before you actuallly try to fly," Ashk said, "but well done, m'Lord of the Hawks."  
  
"Thank you," he whispered. 

"Oh, you'd have come to it sooner or later, friend," she said, a little abashed. "It's just that being close to other Fae will encourage our sort of magic to waken, in those who have it but may not know." 

"Lord of Hawks," he echoed. "And would you be a...lady of the wolves? Or hounds?"

"Not quite. I'm what's called a Green Lady...but my Fae title is the Hunter. Something I don't tell everyone, even among the Fae," she cautioned. 

"Oh? All right. " He didn't press her, though she saw curiosity in his eyes. "But we've wandered off from what you were saying earlier. You were asking--about the future?"

"Yes and no...Padrick...about your needing a son?"


	3. Winter

Padrick had been speechless for quite some time, but happy, hearing about the child. They'd discussed Fae and human ways of raising their children. Ashk had been relieved to know that she wouldn't be facing childbed, or parenthood, alone. It somehow felt more real now that she'd said the words aloud. She was twenty-one years old, not too young for childbearing, but being mother and Hunter sounded like a challenge.  
  
The visit lasted most of a week. One night, they spent outdoors, with Ashk guiding him through shape-changing and his first clumsy, but determined, attempts to get airborne. Another dry, sunny afternoon, he gave her a lesson in staff-fighting, a style he'd picked up while away at a school in eastern Sylvalan.  
He'd been called away the next morning, to meet with some of the other western barons. She'd told him that she also needed to go tend to her Clan duties, but would return that night if he wished.  
He'd hesitated, as if he wanted to ask something, but eventually smiled and told her he'd have a key made for his house's front door when she came back.  
Her 'duty' included a visit to Tir Alainn. She took a shortcut path through the forest, bearing for the shining road.

Kernos' voice came out of a shadowed stand of trees to her left, sharply. _"Mask yourself."_ He strode toward her, holding a bow and quiver of arrows.  
She didn't ask questions, swiftly calling up the glamour that made her appear to be a young man rather than woman. She took the weapons he held, slinging the quiver across her back out of habit.  
Footsteps, loud and brazen, broke the silence. Twigs crunching underfoot. Ashk's jaw tightened as the stranger came into view. Another Fae, not one she knew, but she recognized another Lord of the Woods.  
He sneered at her, dismissively turned to Kernos. "Who's this, Hunter? Your son? Or your plaything?" 

Kernos said nothing. The other Green Lord's smirk faded. He raised a hand that held a knife. 

Ashk stepped to one side as he lunged at her grandfather, swept past her--  
She caught him by the arm, jerking him off his feet.  
He fell hard. The knife dropped from his grasp, sliding out of reach.  
The shadow hound's teeth closed on his leg, tearing flesh and snapping the bones. The challenger screamed. She shook him like a rag doll, ignoring the stench of fear and his useless swats at her. _Weak. Easy meat._

She opened her jaws, spat out jagged flesh and sour-tasting blood, but didn't back away to let him up. Thought of the weariness and pain she had seen in Kernos' face, since the days began to shorten. There was still anger in the man's stance, he wouldn't yield. Not until he or the Hunter was dead. Her telling him the truth wouldn't change that, either. Her resolve hardened. 

_You were warned. You knew the risks. I've offered as much mercy as is in me._

She stared him down, coldly... let him see his death in her eyes, before she struck. 

Kernos scrutinized her as she returned to her other form. "I'll deal with it," he offered quietly, gesturing toward the Fae's body. 

"No." Ashk took a deep breath, wiped at her mouth. "Thank you for warning me, but this is mine to do." 

Kernos had taught her to fight, though he'd hoped she'd never have to use the skills she'd learned. However, challenges like this were part of who, what, the Fae were as well. Shadows as well as light. She shoved down nausea, and faint regret, refusing to give in to either. 

She almost had no heart to visit Tir Alainn, after that; beautiful as it was, the Fair Land always felt...incomplete to her. There were no forests.

But she had responsibilities here, too. She stopped by a stream to wash the last smears of blood off her face, before she went to tend to her business with the Clan elders.

  
  


Padrick made his way through the woods, trying his best to retrace the steps of the path that he'd taken on the night of the Summer Moon. He saw no sign of anyone, human or Fae.  
Perhaps he should have just asked Ashk if he could meet her grandfather, but he wanted to try to deal with this himself first.  
She had said clearly that she wanted him and their child to know one another, but just as clearly she hadn't had marriage, itself, on her mind. Any other young woman would have considered it unthinkable, a disgrace, to have a babe while unwed. The Fae were known to be more casual about liaisons, granted, but ...  
So. She' d come to him because she wanted to, not because she felt obligated to do so. Cared for him?  
All he knew was that the idea of not seeing her again, at this point, made him feel heartsick. She was...extraordinary. Brave, clever, confident and beautiful. 

A stag stepped out onto the trail, barring his way. Padrick jolted to a stop. 

"Lord Kernos?"

The stag's head bobbed. It turned away, glancing back at him.

Padrick followed. 

 

The sun was sinking toward the horizon when Ashk reached Bretonwood. She rode rather than walking or running, astride a dark horse that she'd brought back with her. She led another, a colt just about the age to be trained by a rider.  
Padrick came out to greet her, helping her to dismount. He called one of the grooms over to deal with the horses. The colt approached. Padrick petted him. "You're a fine lad, aren't you?"

"Do...you like him?" Ashk said. She'd noticed Padrick's face lighting up when he'd shown her around the estate, and pointed out the horses in his paddock. She'd wanted to bring him something, and jewelry or books didn't seem quite right as a lover's gift. Not for him. "I'd hoped he might suit."

Padrick looked astonished, and then delighted. "For me? Thank you--Oh, here now, " he gently nudged the colt's nose away from his pocket. 

"What's his name?"

  


"I don't think anyone had given him one yet."  
  
"Chance?" he suggested. The horse turned its head to gaze at him, whuffed softly.  
Padrick chuckled. "Sounds like a 'yes'."  


He watched as the grooms led both horses away, grinning.

"Hm. You've surprised me again, darlin'. " He offered her his arm. She took it, letting him walk her to the front door. He pressed a small metal key into her hand. 

"Welcome home," he murmured. 

The words warmed her, soothing away a little of the chill that had stayed with her since the morning. 

They took a meal by the fireplace in the main sitting room. The chairs were old, padded, huge and comfortable. 

Padrick sipped at a mug of hot tea. He glanced at her, then said, "Ah. I met with your grandfather, earlier. He found me while I was walking outdoors. We had some matters to talk about. I think...I understand more, about the Fae gifts. And why you don't want it known that you're _the_ Lady of the Woods." He put his cup aside, fishing through a pocket. He held up a bloody scrap of fabric "Particularly to other Fae." 

He shrugged, tossed the bit of cloth into the fire. 

"It's never easy," he said after a moment. "To have to choose life or death for others."

"No, but it's part of who I am. Always."

Ashk saw understanding, and more importantly, acceptance in his eyes.

"You needn't do it alone, if it comes to that. If you need me, I'd stand with you. Always, if you'd have me."

Now it was Ashk's turn to be robbed of speech. 

Padrick knelt in front of her, reaching for her hand. 

"Will you?" he asked softly.

The joy in her face gave him her answer, even before she found her voice again.

  


Padrick's family insisted on a celebration "suitable for the Baron's rank". Their concern over some details baffled Ashk; what difference did it make whether her dress was white, red, or every color of the rainbow? With the 'come-hither' looks she got from him, even while they said their vows before a magistrate, she didn't think she'd be wearing it long enough to matter.  
Kernos was there, as well, a steady rock amidst happy, chattering crowds. 

They slipped away, going to Tir Alainn for three days and nights to spend alone.

By the time they returned, Padrick had gained enough familiarity with a hawk's shape to fly part of the way home, rather than ride.

Days flowed into weeks, then months, turning shorter and colder.

Snow fell, blanketing the land with soft white in winter's sleep. 

Not long after Year's Turning, Ashk and Padrick sent for the midwife. He stayed with his wife as she labored, ignoring the scandalized reactions from Fae and gentry alike.  
He mopped sweat from her forehead, whispering encouragement through the pains.

Their son's first cry was loud and aggrieved. Ashk cradled him against her chest, stroking his fuzzy thatch of brown hair. "Welcome, Evan," she murmured. _Welcome, little Lord of the Horse._  
Padrick sat next to his wife and child, wrapping his arms around them both.


	4. Spring

The seasons were long, green, filled with joy and raising their family.  
They welcomed a daughter two years after Evan was born. Unlike her brother, Caitlin was born with a Fae's pointed ears, but by then no one would have commented on that. Padrick had chosen, prudently in Ashk's opinion, not to conceal his Fae heritage from the people in Bretonwood. They were stronger as a people, united by their shared gifts and dreams rather than divided.

Ashk had declined invitations from her former Clan to visit and bring her children to meet them. She had never belonged there, truly. Home was Padrick and Evan and Caitlin, and when he returned, Neall and Ari. Home was people who could make her laugh, but also look at her with blood on her hands and still reach out to hold her close.  
  
Darkness fell over them when the Inquisitors came, and the Hunter had to step forward onto a battlefield. Had to end hundreds of lives, some enemies and others of her own kind.  
She'd burned the bow that she used to kill Morag, on the same night that they gave Death's Mistress back to the Mother. She would carve another one, but no magic in two worlds would wipe away the memory of seeing a friend with one of Ashk's own arrows through her heart.

She wept, when no one else was around to see it. 

Padrick had been waiting for her, as he'd promised. His arms wide open; he and the children hugged her fiercely. 

Quiet years passed as they rebuilt.  
Padrick began to hand some of his responsibilities over to Evan, who soaked up the lessons like a sponge. His heart was rooted in Bretonwood, like Padrick, he wanted to do right by their home and people. All of them. 

Ashk and Ari worked together to teach and guide Caitlin, who proved to be wiccanfae, having the gift of fire. 

Ashk told nobody, not even Caitlin herself, that she'd sensed at birth just how strong her daughter's gifts would become when she was full grown. 

Ari might have suspected, but if so, she said nothing. 

Ashk smiled ironically once, imagining what Lucian's reaction, or his sister's, would have been to discovering that one of _her_ children would take the place he'd valued over all else.

Caitlin was restless, not settled in their part of the world like her brother. When she reached her majority, she and her parents talked. Caitlin lifted her gaze to her mother's, not quite a challenge. "I want to go east. It's time those Clans were reminded that we're kin to them, as well, and their equals."

Padrick raised an eyebrow. He still stood tall, and strong, even with the few threads of silver that had shown in his hair, and lines carved into his forehead. "You're your mother's daughter, true enough. Never take the easy road, or let anyone tell you what you _should_ be. " He stepped forward, embracing her, then let go. Ashk did the same.

"Merry meet, and merry part--"

"--and merry meet again."

The Lady of Fire turned and rode away, taking the road east.

A shadow hound and a hawk took the green forest paths toward home.


End file.
